The new BA.3.2 COVID-19 variant, aka 'cicada,' is spreading in at least 25 U.S. states, the CDC said. What to know about its spread and symptoms.
The heavily mutated new BA.3.2 COVID-19 variant, aka"cicada," is spreading in at least 25 U.S. states, the CDC said. What to know about its spread and symptoms.BA.3.2, a heavily mutated new COVID-19 variant which may be better able to escape immunity from vaccines or prior infection, is now spreading in the United States.
Although COVID cases are currently low nationally, the BA.3.2 strain is gaining traction across the globe. BA.3.2, aka"cicada," emerged over a year ago and slowly simmered until last fall, when it started ramping up in several countries, including the U.S.Perhaps more concerning is the variant's slew of genetic changes in its spike protein, which set it apart from other variants circulating, Andrew Pekosz, Ph.D., a virologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, tells TODAY.com. The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, mutates constantly as it spreads. Over time, this leads to the emergence of new variants. But BA.3.2 stands out, according to experts.These have the potential to reduce protection from a prior COVID infection or vaccination, according to a new study published in the CDC's latest by T. Ryan Gregory, Ph.D., a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Guelph who's coined other variant names like “ Like its namesake insect, BA.3.2 also spent its first years “underground” before re-emerging as a potential major variant, Gregory tells TODAY.com.BA.3.2 was first identified in November 2024 in South Africa. It's a descendent of BA.3, an omicron subvariant that emerged in 2022 and briefly circulated with BA.1 and Its ancestor BA.3 fizzled out, but never disappeared, says Pekosz. Two years and dozens of mutations later, BA.3.2 emerged."It was under the radar, replicating, until it started to spread more from person to person," says Pekosz. BA.3.2 has 70–75 mutations in its spike protein — that’s a lot, says Pekosz — which set it apart from JN.1 and LP.8.1, the strains targeted by current COVID-19 vaccines. According to the CDC, BA.3.2 represents a new lineage that's “genetically distinct” from the family of variants we’ve seen in recent years. “We think it might be able to evade a lot of the immunity already in the population,” says Pekosz. "What's interesting, however, is some of these mutations may actually make the virus bind less well to our cells. So yes, our immune system may not recognize it, but it also doesn't recognize us as well," Dr. Dana Mazo, an infectious diseases physician at NYU Langone Health, tells TODAY.com.Does the new COVID variant cause more severe illness?"There’s no evidence that BA.3.2 is causing more severe disease or hospitalizations in countries where it’s more widespread," Dr. Adolfo García-Sastre, director of the global health and emerging pathogens institute at Mt. Sinai, tells TODAY.com. "It can still cause problems, of course, but it's not a more problematic strain that previous ones," says García-Sastre. Pekosz adds: “It looks scary on paper, but it hasn’t really made a big impact in terms of disease in most places yet.”As of Feb. 11, 2026, BA.3.2 has spread to at least 23 countries, per data from the CDC and the BA.3.2 was first detected in the U.S. in June 2025 in a traveler returning from the Netherlands at the San Francisco International Airport, the CDC said. Since then, it's been detected in more international travelers, COVID patients and wastewater samples., a Stanford University-run program that tracks diseases, show BA.3.2 has been detected in 3.7% of sewage samples nationwide, a spokesperson tells TODAY.com. “There are still a lot of unknown questions about how prevalent it is in the U.S., because surveillance has been reduced a lot,” García-Sastre says.Although BA.3.2 detections are going up, it's still circulating at a relatively low level in many countries, including the U.S."It's increasing, but it hasn't really caused a huge surge of infections anywhere," Pekosz adds. Despite the large mutations in its spike protein,"BA.3.2 has not shown a sustained growth advantage over other any other co-circulating variant," "If it had really special advantages, we'd probably have seen it take off and dominate globally relatively quickly. We didn't see that, but it's not going away, so it's something to keep an eye on," says Pekosz. Even if BA.3.2 can evade existing immunity, there will likely still be some “cross-reactivity," so it won't be a complete stranger to our immune systems, the experts say. COVID-19 can be unpredictable, so only time will tell. “It may evolve to be bit better at spreading or causing disease, but we just don’t know,” says Pekosz. However, it's unlikely that BA.3.2 will cause a wave as large or severe as the ones seen very early in the pandemic, he adds.Symptoms of the new COVID variant BA.3.2 The symptoms of BA.3.2 are similar to those caused by other variants circulating right now, the experts note."The new variant is still sensitive to COVID antiviral drugs that we have been developing, so at least those will work," says García-Sastre.BA.3.2 has drawn attention partly because the changes in its spike protein have may affect how well the vaccine protects against infection, highlighting the need for possible reformulation, the experts note. The 2025-2026 COVID vaccines, which target the JN.1 lineage, are effective at protecting against severe disease from current strains. In lab studies, these vaccines were less effective against BA.3.2, but more research is needed, the CDC said. "It's not completely clear how effective the current vaccine will be, but it likely still has some effectiveness," García-Sastre says. According to the WHO, current COVID vaccines"are expected to continue providing protection against severe disease." Vaccines are typically reformulated in the summer and can protect against multiple strains."One beauty of this vaccine is that we can update it every year," says Mazo. In the meantime, you can still protect yourself and others by testing if you have symptoms, staying home when sick and wearing a mask in high-risk settings. If you haven't been vaccinated or infected with COVID in the last six to 12 months, it may be worth talking to your doctor about whether a booster is right for you, says García-Sastre. Vaccination is particularly important for people at higher risk of severe disease from COVID-19, which include adults over 65 and individuals with weakened immune systems or underlying conditions.LaGuardia Airport
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